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Located in Heaton Norris, Stockport Cheshire, built in 1962/63 and sponsored by a competition run by Ideal Home Magazine and the Royal Institute of British Architects Dene Park exemplifies group design.

Built over a 4 and a 1/2 acre site it is comprised of 71,  4, 3 and 2 bed roomed houses. The sharp modernist architecture is currently experiencing a revival and is extremely popular.

The Dene Park ethos was primarily about creating a sense of community and place, organised around an infrastructure of shared spaces, these are the common ground of the estate. The aim is to encourage a sense of community and neighbourly spirit.

Buying one of the Dene Park properties means buying into the community.

“Dene Park links five landscaped courtyards. Each courtyard is planned as an intimate precinct with two, three and four bedroomed houses grouped around it. Every house has its own screened patio and garage space.” Ideal Home Magazine,

Dene park is a wonderful, idyllic place to live, safe, with great play areas, great landscaping and light airy houses.

Originally predominantly occupied by young professionals, Dene Park residents now span a wide age range. Many have never left since buying their houses in the sixties, and many of the children who were brought up on the estate have returned to bring up their own families in the tranquil surroundings.

Residents sign up to a “Covenant” the aim of which is to maintain a consistency of appearance of the estate. The covenant can be viewed here:

Archive Photographs

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Original image of houses

Ideal Home Competition

Dene Park won a British Architects’ Award for “Group Housing” when first built in 1964.

Below is a scanned version of the original transcript of the award. To the left is an original 1960’s image of the Dene Court Townhouses.

Ideal Home competition home page
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